ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team resumes its non-conference slate on Sunday, hosting Tarleton at noon inside Addition Financial arena.
The Knights played in their third overtime game of the season their last time out, beating Samford 80-77 to improve to 6-2 overall. The Black and Gold have now started back-to-back campaigns with a 6-2 record as well as starting four of the last five seasons with an identical record.
Standout UCF freshman Taylor Hendricks has continued to impress, earning his third consecutive American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week honor. He posted 21 points his last time on the floor, just two points shy of tying his career-high achieved in the first game of the season. Hendricks is averaging 15.5 points a contest along with an average of 6.9 rebounds a game and is shooting 45.7% from beyond the arc and an even 50% from the field.
Hendricks isn't the only double-digit scorer on this year's squad. Darius Johnson currently averages 12.7 points per game in his three games since his return. C.J. Kelly is just behind him with a clip of 10.5 points a game. Kelly has posted 16 points or more in half of UCF's contests thus far with a season high of 20 on opening night. Hendricks has posted 15 or more points in six of the Knights' eight games.
UCF's defense continues to cause problems for their opposition as they hold foes to 37.4% shooting, ranking 21st in the country. The Knights are ranked even higher in guarding the perimeter, checking in at 19th in the nation by holding opponents to a 26.8% mark from three-point land. The Black and Gold rank 42nd in scoring defense, holding teams to an average of 61.8 points a game.
Sunday's meeting will be the first between the two sides. Tarleton enters the contest with a 5-4 record, having dropped three of its last five. The Texans stared the season strong, losing by just three on opening night on the road at Arizona State. They ripped off three consecutive wins following the defeat, beating Kansas Christian at home along with wins against Belmont and Boston College at the Paradise Jam. Tarleton is 5-0 when leading at halftime and 0-4 when trailing at the break.
Freddy Hicks leads the way in scoring for the Texans, averaging 17.9 points per game while also averaging 6.4 boards a contest. Jakorie Smith and Lue Williams also average double-digit points, posting 11.5 and 10.3 clips per game respectively.
Tarleton men's hoops has been taking part in intercollegiate competition since 1906 but are freshly into Division I competition as of 2020. This will be the Texans first contest in the state of Florida in the history of their program and will be just the fifth Florida-based program they've faced to date.
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